The subject matter of this application generally relates to systems and methods that engage persons to interact with broadcast content, such as television advertising.
Much of content that is broadcast to viewers relies on advertising revenue for continued operation, and in turn, businesses purchasing advertising time rely upon viewers to watch advertisements so that advertised products and services can gain consumer recognition, which ultimately boosts sales for advertisers. Many viewers, however, are at best ambivalent towards commercials, if not hostile toward them. For example, many viewers may not pay attention to commercial content, may leave the room during commercials, etc. Although broadcasters attempt to draw viewers' attention towards commercials using techniques such as increasing the sound level of commercials, this often leads viewers to simply mute the television during commercials.
Viewer antipathy to commercial content is sufficiently pervasive that many manufacturers of digital video recorders or other devices that permit users to time-shift broadcast content include functionality that suspends recording during commercials, or otherwise erases commercials after recording. Thus, advertisers and broadcasters attempt to find more effective ways to induce viewers to watch commercial content, in some instances proposing schemes that would pay viewers to watch commercials, provide credits used towards the monthly cost of broadcast service, or otherwise give the viewer something of value in exchange for voluntarily watching commercials.
For the most part, such efforts to increase viewers' interest in commercials have been ineffective. Therefore, there is a need for improved systems and methods that draw viewers' interest toward commercial content.